Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 21 April 2021
1527. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Health if the practice of amassing dossiers on children with autism involved in legal proceedings has been repeated or replicated across the health service. [18148/21]
View answer1528. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Health if the families and children will be able to access copies of the dossiers built up by his Department on children with autism involved in legal proceedings. [18149/21]
View answer1529. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Health if he will seek to destroy the files amassed on children with autism by his Department. [18150/21]
View answer1530. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Health if the children and their families upon whom dossiers have been compiled by his Department will be able to request that the files amassed by his Department on children with autism involved in legal proceedings be deleted or destroyed. [18151/21]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 1527 to 1530, inclusive, together.
I take the allegations made in recent media reports including the RTÉ Investigates broadcast of 25 March extremely seriously. I know that the headlines generated will have caused distress for some families.
The Report of the Department of Health team set up to establish the facts in respect of specific allegations by RTÉ Primetime Investigates Programme was published this morning. This report deals with each of the allegations made in the programme and related articles on the website.
This Report is clear that the Department of Health has never gathered sensitive medical and educational information on children involved in court cases in the manner portrayed in recent media reports.
There is no evidence that the Department of Health was secretly compiling dossiers on children with autism involved in Special Educational Needs litigation as alleged.
I welcome an inquiry by the Data Protection Commission (DPC), which is currently investigating data collection practices regarding the cases. My Department looks forward to the findings of this review and, where necessary, will make improvements based on their recommendations?.
The Department of Health has appointed an Independent Support Liaison Officer to engage directly with the 29 families involved in open Special Educational Needs litigation related to these allegations. These families are being contacted through the solicitor on file offering the opportunity to engage directly with the Independent Support Liaison Officer.
State bodies including the Minister/Department of Health are named from time to time as defendants in cases taken against the State. Depending on the subject matter of the case, the Minister’s interests are represented by the Chief State Solicitor’s Office, at the direction of the Office of the Attorney General, or by the State Claims Agency. The legal strategy adopted by the Department is determined on a case-by-case basis by the Department’s legal representatives in accordance with instructions received from the Department. On occasion, in order to efficiently and effectively manage litigation, cases raising similar issues may be grouped together and managed collectively.
